Evening Brief: February 4, 2013

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Evening.

After weeks of First Nations protests, limo airlifts and Malian partial commitments driving the headlines, the Conservatives returned to their tough-on-crime home turf, announcing a plan to introduce tougher sentences for those convicted of sexually abusing children.

A report from the veterans ombudsman found that the process that confirms or denies veterans’ disability benefits is a bit of a black box from the vets’ perspective. “Veterans and serving members of the Canadian Forces and the RCMP should not be kept in the dark when it comes to their own application for disability benefits,” the ombudsman said.

The official Opposition wants to keep the parliamentary budget officer on the job. The NDP plans to put forward a motion in the finance committee tomorrow that seeks to keep Kevin Page in office until a ‘transparent’ process identifies a replacement. Page’s tenure is set to end in March and — given the harsh reception his work has received from the government on occasion — one wonders how much he appreciates that vote of confidence.

Meanwhile, a sovereignist group managed to find 92 ways in which the Canadian system hinders the development of Quebec. Reaching back to the start of the 20th century, their report claims that francophone Canadians outside Quebec have been the victims of “soft ethnocide.”